Finding old secrets

Posted on Thu Aug 18th, 2011 @ 7:33pm by Lieutenant K`Wor

738 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Mission 76 - Home comings
Location: USS Laffey, Bridge
Timeline: Following Winter's post

ON:
USS Laffey - Bridge

The young Acting-Ensign rested his head on one hand, his elbow resting on the Tactical I console aboard the Defiant class vessel. Talos was `A long way out` in terms of distance, if you were talking about twenty-third or twenty-forth century space travel. The Talos Star Group was near the bottom of Federation territory when looking at the map on the screen to his left. The closest galactic power, other than the Federation, were the Tholians, but even they were a long way off. Nothing in the Starfleet Tactical Database or Intelligence reports from that era or today suggested the Tholians had ever travelled to the Talos system.

K`Wor then decided to try a different approach to the mystery. He pulled up records for Doctor Theodore Haskins, the lead scientist aboard the SS Columbia. He was employed by the American Continent Institute, an institution of higher learning on Earth. Dr. Haskins was a professor in geology and taught at the ACI. He was a frequent member of planetary survey missions organized by the American Continent Institute and similar organizations, independently following up initial scans by Starfleet to catalogue the resources and suitability for colonization of newly-discovered worlds.

That got K`Wor thinking, 'independently following up initial scans by Starfleet to catalogue the resources and suitability for colonization of newly-discovered worlds'. Could that mean Starfleet had already surveyed Talos prior to the Columbia's loss? If so, why were there no records...or were those records sealed and hidden, even today? There were no other worlds around within ten light years of the Talos group that were habitable or possessing resources that would account for a ship to be sent so far out.

The young man thought about contacting his father, surely a full Admiral had access to those records, but he decided not to. He didn't want to get into a habit of `calling daddy` whenever there was a problem. He also realized that even if there were any records, they were hidden even from his dad because the mission briefings before leaving Starbase 400 made no mention of any sealed records.

Sadly, K`Wor had also learned in his brief Starfleet career that if he was to contact Starfleet Tactical, Security, or Intel on the matter, he would get nowhere.

He logged everything into the PADD he was using to take notes for his report to Commander Winter. Next, he pulled up flight paths of Stafleet ships prior to 2236. There were two to the planet Bellatrix, where Xavier Fleet Yards orbits today. Both of those missions were in 2187...exactly two hundred years ago. Of those, one simply finished its survey the Bellatrix system then returned its Starbase. The other however reported after its survey, the Captain had ordered the ships to proceed further out into unknown space to explore. The report seemed incomplete though. While `other planets within ten light years of Bellatrix` were mentioned, none were named and their coordinates were missing. Could Starfleet of known about the Talosians or at least of their planet nearly fifty years before the SS Columbia crashed on the planet? If so, why and when were the records sealed? How did Dr. Haskins know of Talos, he wasn't even born until 2190. Each answer brought up more questions.

K`Wor added all the information to his report, then theorized that Starfleet had encountered the Talosians in 2187, and fearing their mental powers sealed the records. Dr. Haskins, looking though a list of planets scouted and in need of addition survey work, found the Bellatrix records and mention of `other planets`, and decided to set out on a survey mission. As fate would have it, they too would find Talos. With the records sealed, the USS Enterprise and then Captain Pike would have no knowledge of what to expect at Talos, and the rest is history.

This didn't explain what caused the Columbia to crash, so K`Wor also recommended the USS Endeavor beam up some debris for a detailed analysis aboard the Nova class vessel. Perhaps they could shed a little more light on things. For all he knew, he could have been a simple malfunction that doomed the ship, or `pilot error`...hopefully Commander Coleman and his crew would find out.

K`Wor finished up his report, saved the data on his PADD, then tapped the comm, "Captain to the Bridge."


OFF:
TAG Coleman and Endeavor crew!

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